Audie Murphy: Rome & France (Part 3)

Summary

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WW2 Pod: We Have Ways of Making You Talk

Audie Murphy: Rome & France (Part 3)

Hosts: Al Murray & James Holland
Original Release: March 24, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode, the third in the Audie Murphy series, follows the legendary American infantryman from the grim stalemate at Anzio through the liberation of Rome, his transfer to Operation Dragoon and the invasion of southern France, and finally his harrowing combat experiences into the autumn of 1944. Through a mix of Murphy’s own writing, the hosts’ analysis, and characteristic banter, listeners traverse the brutal, emotionally exhausting grind of frontline life. The episode highlights not only Murphy’s feats and trauma, but the crushing attrition among his comrades and the transformations wrought by war.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Audie Murphy at Anzio: Exhaustion and Attrition

• Murphy’s Emotional State
  • Opens with a reading from Murphy’s memoir To Hell and Back:

    "So many men have come and gone that I can no longer keep track of any of them. I've isolated myself as much as possible, desiring only to do my work and be left alone. I feel burnt out, emotionally and physically exhausted." (01:04)

• Breakdown at Anzio
  • Murphy is now a 19-year-old company sergeant, totally "grown up" by the pressure of attritional combat.

    "A baby faced 19 year old who's already a company sergeant." - James (02:05)

• Life in the Bridgehead
  • The Anzio stalemate compared to "something like out of the Western Front in 1914–1918":

    "It's miserable. And, you know, what a surprise. Morale is suffering." - James (03:20)

• Desertion and Consequences
  • Murphy must testify against a deserter, Thompson, who is sentenced to 20 years:

    “Sorry for me, says Thompson. I’m sorry for you...what's 20 years compared to a corpse? It’s got a point.” (04:36)

• Murphy’s Malaria & Hospital Stay
  • Suffering recurring malaria, Murphy spends time in hospital, where he bonds with a kind nurse, Helen, only to learn she may have been killed in an air raid. This brief human connection highlights their youth and the omnipresence of loss.
  • A revealing exchange with Helen:

    “‘How old are you?’ ‘19.’ ‘You look younger.’ ‘I can't help that...’” (07:30–07:49)
    “When she passed away, she took something of me with her. It seems I’ve been searching for it ever since.” (07:54)

2. The Personal and the Profound: Letters from Home

• Combat & Small Mercies
  • Scenes such as a cherry song at Anzio or Tipton’s daughter’s letter home underline how small details from home (children’s problems, everyday life) provided solace and a sense of normalcy amidst horror.

    “Through the months of ruin and despair, the little girl with her braids and freckles has served to remind us that somewhere on earth, utter innocence still exists.” - Murphy (11:05)

• Friendships and Bonding
  • The squad forms deeply intense bonds, but these are often shattered as friends are killed or wounded.

3. Operation Diadem: Breaking the Gustav Line

• Massive Allied Attack
  • Detailed breakdown of the 11 May offensive, massive artillery barrage, and eventual Allied break out at Anzio.
  • Murphy’s regiment is at the spearhead of the breakout, advancing through extreme danger and under heavy fire.
• Hyper-Local Perspective
  • Despite enormous strategic movements, for Murphy “all that comes all the way down...he knows about Tipton’s daughter. He knows he’s got to put one foot in front of the other.” (15:21–16:52)
• Hair-Raising Advance
  • Murphy’s own entrenching tool gets caught during an exposed crossing – a harrowing moment survived with luck and nerve:

    “You ignorant bastard. You hurt?” - Kelly
    “No, just a slight heart attack. And a nervous breakdown.” - Murphy (18:04)

4. Liberation of Rome: Triumph Tainted by Apathy

• Allies Take Rome
  • Murphy and his unit are at the forefront. Despite the "triumphal entry," the experience is anticlimactic and overshadowed by fatigue and loss:

    “Rome is but another objective on an endless road called war...now that our dream is an actuality, a vast indifference seizes us. Pitching our tents in a public park, we sleep until our brains go soggy and life oozes back into our spirits.” (24:20)

• Enormous Casualties
  • Both sides suffer tens of thousands of casualties in weeks.
• Campaign Shift
  • Strategic priority swings to Normandy; Murphy’s 3rd Division is reassigned to the upcoming invasion of southern France, Operation Dragoon.

5. Operation Dragoon: Invasion of Southern France

• Another Invasion
  • Murphy lands again, this time near Ramatuelle, south of St. Tropez. The German defense is weakening under the weight of defeats on all fronts.
• Pillbox Hill
  • Murphy becomes isolated, seizes a machine gun and eliminates a German nest. He is haunted by the scene of a dying, young German.

    “His staring eyes, already filled with the shadows of death, still plead for life.” (32:14)

• Lipton’s Death
  • During the attempt to accept surrender, German trickery results in Lipton’s death—a devastating blow, triggering Murphy’s rage and subsequent killing spree:

    “I remember the experience as I do a nightmare. A demon seems to have entered my body. My whole being is concentrated on killing.” (33:57)

  • Awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions.

    “I sit by his side and bawl like a baby. After a while, I get up, wipe the tears from my eyes, and walk over the hill to rejoin the company.” (34:41)

6. Combat Experience and Cunning

• Leadership under Fire
  • Murphy masters small-unit tactics, deceives German defenders into surrender by faking numbers.

    “Fire a lot and make a huge amount of noise...the ploy works.” (36:17–36:24)

• Vivid Battle Scenes
  • Direct readings from Murphy's memoirs bring combat, fear, and horror viscerally close:

    “He turns slowly, about as if for a last view of the familiar sky and fields. His body flinches as more lead is poured into it. When he hits the ground, he flexes his knees and rests his head in the crook of his arm as if going to sleep.” (38:43)

7. Relentless Attrition and Isolation

• Few Survivors Remain
  • By autumn 1944, only Murphy and Kelly remain of their original platoon.
• Wounds and Recovery
  • Murphy is twice wounded in quick succession but continually returns to the line. Kelly is grievously wounded and evacuated.
• Isolation and Fatigue
  • As the last of his close friends are killed or wounded, Murphy battles on alone:

    “The thick forests hiding innumerable snipers and machine gun emplacements must be cleared by tree to tree fighting. The enemy is dug in high upon the steep craggy slopes...At night the fog closes in. Under its cover, Germans infiltrate our lines and hand to hand fighting becomes commonplace. I wet my bayonet until it’s razor sharp and keep it always handy.” (43:02)

8. Promotion and Near-Death

• Field Promotion
  • Recognized for his leadership and actions, he’s promoted to second lieutenant.
• Seriously Wounded
  • Hit in the hip, thought finished, but saved by penicillin.
• Comic Relief in Hospital
  • Reunited with Kelly in hospital, their reunion is full of banter, a moment of rare levity:

    “Is this the venereal ward?” - Murphy
    “No sir. A patient responds...this is casualty.”
    “Then what’s this syphilitic sergeant doing here?” - Murphy (47:14–47:32)
    “You beagle eared bastard. What are you doing in the rear area?” - Kelly (47:56)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Murphy, on exhaustion and isolation:

  "Burnt out, emotionally and physically exhausted… Let the hill be strewn with corpses, so long as I do not have to turn over the bodies and find the familiar face of a friend." (01:04)

• Thompson, the sentenced deserter:

  "What's 20 years compared to a corpse?" (04:36)

• On reaching Rome:

  "Rome is but another objective on an endless road called war..." (24:20)

• Murphy’s reaction to Lipton’s death:

  "If he is dead, the war is all wrong and he has died in vain." (33:15)

• Combat desensitization:

  "My whole being is concentrated on killing." (33:57)

• Comic hospital reunion:

  “Is this the venereal ward?” – Murphy
  “You beagle eared bastard. What are you doing in the rear area?” – Kelly (47:14–47:56)

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Crucial Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment / Discussion | |-------------|---------------------------------------| | 01:04 | Murphy's exhaustion and isolation | | 03:03 | Anzio stalemate & Thompson's situation| | 07:30–07:54 | Murphy's personal loss & mother | | 11:05 | Innocence as solace | | 15:21–16:52 | Operation Diadem: macro vs. micro view| | 18:04 | Close call crossing open ground | | 24:20 | Liberation and anticlimax of Rome | | 32:14 | Haunting aftermath on Pillbox Hill | | 34:41 | Coping with Lipton’s death | | 36:17–36:24 | Murphy’s tactics for false superiority| | 38:43 | Vivid combat descriptions | | 43:02 | Isolated fighting in Vosges | | 47:14–47:56 | Hospital reunion banter |

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Tone & Style

• The hosts maintain a blend of scholarly detail and irreverent, wry humour, underscoring the human cost and absurdities of WWII combat.
• Audie Murphy’s own voice, through memoir excerpts, adds a mix of stoicism, weariness, and sharp, sometimes grisly observation—matched by Al’s and James’s respectful but unsparing discussion.
• Comic relief (notably the hospital reunion) lightens the episode’s cumulative emotional toll.

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Conclusion

This detailed episode moves Murphy through exhaustion, unrelenting combat, wrenching losses, and the constant churn of the American infantry platoon from Anzio’s mud to the vineyards of France. It’s a revealing, harrowing account that humanizes both the mythic hero and those he fought beside—and sets the stage for the climactic final part of Audie Murphy’s WWII journey.

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Transcript

[Al Murray]

Thank you for listening to we have ways of making you talk. Sign up to our Patreon to receive bonus content, live streams and our weekly newsletter with money off books and museum visits as well. Plus early access to all live show tickets. That's patreon.com wehaveways.

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[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

So many men have come and gone that I can no longer keep track of any of them. I've isolated myself as much as possible, desiring only to do my work and be left alone. I feel burnt out, emotionally and physically exhausted. Let the hill be strewn with corpses, so long as I do not have to turn over the bodies and find the familiar face of a friend. It is with the living that I must concern myself, juggling them as numbers to fit the mathematics of battle. The words of Audie Murphy in his

[Al Murray]

memoir To Hell and Back. Welcome to we have ways to make you talk with me, Al Murray and James Holland, your Second World War podcast of Second World War needs. And this is the third part of our look at the life or the wartime life of Audie Murphy.

[James Holland]

It's only getting a little bit easier with the upfront quotes, isn't it?

[Al Murray]

Yes, it is. But also I think what's interesting, isn't it, is that this is very different from I wanted adventure, I wanted to be part of something, isn't it?

[White Claw Advertiser]

Yeah.

[James Holland]

Isn't it just.

[Al Murray]

He's grown up fast, isn't he? In no time at all, he's. He certainly is talking like this.

[James Holland]

Yeah. A baby faced 19 year old who's already a company sergeant.

[Al Murray]

To recap, he's fought his way through Sicily from Licata, all the way through, he's landed then again at Salerno and one more time, yet another rodeo at Anzio. And Anzio, of course, is the attempt by the Allies to use their amphibious potential to outflank the German positions at Cassino and to destabilise the German front, get them off balance and roll them up and get to Rome nice and quickly. It, however, has not quite worked out that way and Anzio is becoming stuck and static Nordiburth is in B Company, the 15th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Division, involved in an attempt to take Cisterna, which is inland from the lodgement. And it's been the most terrible and thankless and bloody task. And Audie's feeling the pressure, isn't he, Jim?

[James Holland]

Well, he certainly is. And what's happened is immediately after that, the Germans have twice counterattacked, and then a third time. And after that, the Germans realize that it's not the Americans that are finding it difficult to attack this time, it's the Germans trying to find it, finding it difficult to attack. And they get no further than the Americans have, really, and the Allies have. And so a stalemate has descended by the beginning of March. So six weeks or so, six, seven weeks into the. Into the Anzio operation, the stalemate. And it turns into kind of something like out of the Western Front in 1914-1918, you know where. Yeah, weather's pretty miserable still. It's still raining a lot. They're all in trenches and foxholes. No one's moving very far. You're being sniped if you put your head above the parapet, all that kind of stuff. You're living underground with mud and rats and blah, blah, blah, and getting trench foot. And it's miserable. And, you know, what a surprise. Morale is suffering. And Murphy returns from patrol one night to find one of his men, Thompson, is missing. And he checks with the aid station to see whether he's been wounded, but no reports have been made. And then three days later, Thompson is found cowering in an abandoned hut. He's been a deserter, he's walked out and he's arrested, inevitably put in the prison stockade and court martialed. Murphy is called to testify in a brief and factual way. Thompson, as a result of this, is given 20 years in prison. But he's not shot. You know, that's the main thing.

[Al Murray]

Yeah.

[James Holland]

Anyway, Murphy rides with Thompson in the jeep back to the prison stockade, and he feels sorry for him. Sorry for me, says Thompson. I'm sorry for you. I only got 20 years. If I serve the whole sentence, I'll be just 39 when I get out. But what happens to you? Why, you poor son of a bitch, you go back into the lines. You attack if you live, you. You attack again, and you keep attacking until you're dead. What's 20 years compared to a corpse? It's got a point.

[Al Murray]

It's got a point. It absolutely. It absolutely has. And things go from bad to worse, really. Don't they. By March, Monte Cassino has been bombed. The Germans have got themselves properly invested in the ruins, stuck in. And they've also launched their counterattack at. At Anzio. So they're outnumbering Allied troops. And if there's one thing that Albert Kesseling's good, he's good at rustling people up in a tremendous hurry and reorganizing. And if he's good at one thing and he's got something like 125,000 troops outnumbering the allies, who have about 100,000. So, I mean, it's quite. It's quite an achievement that. To contain the Anzio blister in the German line. And over the next three days, they are pushed back to their final defensive lines. And it's a. It's a bloodbath, really. Huge attack. Casualties on both sides. But the. But as you said, Jim, a stalemate. But a similar stalemate at Casino on the Gustav Line. Well, where. And things are getting worse and trench foot, obviously, is a problem. Murphy, L.D. murphy also, he. Then his malaria returns. Because once you've got malaria, it's really only a matter of time to leak till it. Till it comes back, doesn't it?

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

Yeah, it's in you.

[Al Murray]

Lives in you. And he's hospitalized again now. We talked in the last episode about he want. How he wanted some female company. Didn't get quite what he bargained for.

[James Holland]

The Maria he came up with wasn't the dream. The Maria of his dreams.

[Al Murray]

Well, I know, but I mean, how horrible it is in Naples is something I think that, you know, is the other, is the backdrop to all this as well. What is liberation in this instance, when an Allied army comes through where you live, smashes it all up, and then your women all end up prostituted. It's not amazing, is it? And he meets an American nurse, doesn't he, called Helen, who looks after him. This is rather sweet, this, isn't it? Because they're still, in spite of all this, they're still really young, aren't they?

[James Holland]

Yeah.

[Al Murray]

And they flirt and they chat about their childhoods and the war, because all that you. If you're 19, what have you got to talk about? You haven't got. You can't talk about what it's like, what your job's like, can you?

[James Holland]

Yeah, yeah. You're not going to talk about the, you know, the death of Antonio, of his legs buckling, are you? And being cut to pieces.

[Al Murray]

They. They talk about how they can't leave their posts until the war has finished. So What? Basically what Thompson was saying. You've got to just keep going. Yeah, they have. They have an interesting conversation, don't they?

[James Holland]

How old are you? Ask Helen.

[Al Murray]

19.

[James Holland]

You look younger.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

I can't help that.

[Al Murray]

I'm 19.

[James Holland]

What are you doing in the army?

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

I asked for it. Wanted to play soldier.

[James Holland]

Now you've had enough.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

A belly full.

[James Holland]

But you wouldn't quit if you had the chance.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

No, I wouldn't quit.

[James Holland]

Why not?

[Al Murray]

Oh, hell.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

As long as there's a man in the lines, maybe.

[Al Murray]

I feel that my place is up there beside him. And he opens up to it, doesn't he? Tells about the death of his mother.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

She had the most beautiful hair I've ever seen. It reached almost to the floor. She rarely talked. And she always seemed to be searching for something. What it was, I don't know. We didn't discuss our feelings. No, there was nothing to say. When she passed away, she took something of me with her. It seems I've been searching for it ever since.

[James Holland]

I've got to say, I think I did a very convincing American nursing.

[Al Murray]

I was right there in that aid station, Jim.

[James Holland]

In that wardrobe. Yeah. Yeah.

[Al Murray]

A week later, he's. He's sufficiently recovered, but he never sees her again. I mean, in the way of all these stories. Of course he doesn't.

[James Holland]

Of course not.

[Al Murray]

But he later hears that the hospital's heavily bombed and some of the nurses were killed. And he does what he can to find out whether she was one of them, but he never finds out. When we go in close on an individual, it all gets quite bleak, doesn't it, Jim?

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

Even when.

[Al Murray]

Even when spring comes, trees might be

[James Holland]

in blossom, but that's no good, you know. The cherry trees are. Some of them have survived and they start to bloom. And his friend Kelly. Kelly the Irishman, he composes a song about it, which is, We've got cherries at Anzio. Cherries, yes, but women, no. Don't ask me how, but it sure is. So that's. The hell with Anzio. I mean, it's a brilliant verse, but.

[Al Murray]

Well, it tells the story, doesn't it? And around this time, Tipton, who's the guy from Tennessee. So, ah, man didn't talk like that, Jim.

[James Holland]

Yeah.

[Al Murray]

He gets a letter from his daughter who's 10. And we heard about Steiner's letter from his daughter. Daddy, I miss you, you know. When are you coming back? Tipton's letter.

[James Holland]

Dear Daddy, the boy who sits behind me in school pulls my hair, and it is a mess for Granny to braid every day. So I think I'll have it cut off like all the other girls are doing. Granny won't let me unless you say okay, so I hope you say okay. From your loving daughter, Marion. That sounds a bit Aussie at times.

[Al Murray]

Who knows what anyone ever sounds like.

[James Holland]

But it's everyday problems, isn't it? It's everyday problems and it's reaching him in the front. I mean, it's. It's.

[Al Murray]

That is heartrending, though he could be killed before he replies, couldn't he? And he can't do anything about it. You know, he could write to us saying, yeah, get your haircut. But, you know, all of the men around him find this really, like, concerning and serious and take it very, very seriously, don't they?

[James Holland]

Do you remember me mentioning my friend from Wigan who's called Sam Bradshaw? And he was a. He was a Scouser, and he ended up in, I think it was 3rd Royal Tank Regiment. And I remember him saying that he had this friend, and, you know, his friend's wife would always write to him, letters about what was going home. And every time a letter arrived up, they all crowded around to hear him read it out because they all wanted to know. It was like their soap opera, you know, sort of banal nothingness going on every day. But it was just. It was like a link to home. It was a link to kind of ordinariness, and I guess it's the same thing here. You know, this is sort of everyday life back home, which seems normal rather than the completely abnormal experience that they're going through at the moment.

[Al Murray]

Well, and also, what is there? What else is there to talk about? Not the loss of your friends. That's too much, isn't it? That's too big. The stuff around them is too big and too difficult. So you. You know, and it's the parochial being the universal as well here, isn't it? That the tiny little parochial details of someone's daughter and her life is something they can all have in common.

[James Holland]

Yeah. And he writes very sensitively about it, doesn't he?

[Al Murray]

Yeah.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

He says, through the months of ruin and despair, the little girl with her braids and freckles has served to remind us that somewhere on the earth, utter innocence still exists.

[Al Murray]

But if this. Those pigtails go, what then? Tipton's his best friend in the squad. They're all. They all love Tipton's daughter. But this tall, quiet man is closer

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

to me than a brother. We have shared much in silence. He's as solid as the earth. A sticker if the gates of hell burst open, he would stick to his position.

[Al Murray]

You know, this is not his first best friend that we've got through either in these last three episodes, is it Jim? This is the thing he's onto his because, because they don't last long, but

[James Holland]

they're still there at the beginning of May and by that time, you know, there's proper stalemate time there and obviously the weather's improving, the days are lengthening, it's not as cold, it's not as raining as much, you know. To the south, huge plans are underway to, to launch Operation Diadem, which is Alexander's who's the overall commander in chief of Allied armies in Italy. His plan to sort of break the Gustav Line and get to Rome. Central to his plan is, is obviously the, the need for more manpower to break through the German defenses. So he brings the bulk of 8th army which had been over on the Adriatic eastern side of the peninsula and brought them over to join up side by side with 5th Army. So the idea is for both armies to attack on a 25 mile front simultaneously instead of sort of staggering attacks like they had before back in January. And then the troops at Anzio, at a key moment they're going to break out from the bridgehead of Anzio and advance towards the town of Valmontoni on Highway 6 via Casalina, which is the, as we mentioned in the last episode, the Naples to Rome road. The idea is to block the retreat of the German 10th army which is facing the Allies around the Cassino front. That's the idea. You know, there's four allied corps, there's 15 divisions operate involved in Operation Diadem and they're outnumbering the Germans three to one. And that was always one of the great, great sort of priorities for Alexander was that he would have a numerical advantage as well as a massive firepower advantage. Begins on the 11th of May. On the night of 11th of May, incredible barrage of 1600 guns. You know, the Germans have been consistently hammered by Allied artillery and air power all the way. And air power has also been very involved in kind of destroying bridges further up and hammering their supply lines and railway lines. They hit a bit of a brick wall to start off with, but inevitably they do break through, but not as everyone's expecting in the pre battle plan, which is basically that 8th army advancing down the Via Casalina would take the lead with the French Expeditionary corps on their left and then US 2 Corps, both part of US 5th army on their left hand flank between Cassino and the coast would be going through the mountains, and it was expected that they would take a lot longer to get through the mountains than eight army would down the valley, which would then squeeze the retreating 10th army over to the west, which would then enable 6th Corps to break out of the Anzio bridgehead and cut them off, cut off their retreat. But it doesn't work out that way because two corps and the French make far greater progress, far quicker than 8th army do. And the net result of that is the vast bulk of 10th army disappear through the mountains to the east and not down the Via Casalina. But be that as it may, there's still a breakout to be done and there's still Rome to be captured. So on the 23rd of May, which is a Tuesday, 6th Corps begins to break out of Anzio at long last. And the plan is to capture the town of Corrie and then Valmontone on Highway 6. Murphy's 15th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Infantry Division, is leading with the attack, with 1st Armored Division on their left and the Special Service Force, which is a mixed American, Canadian kind of commando unit, effectively on their right. And the German counterattack is intense and shells are hurtling over their heads and tanks firing around everywhere. And Murphy and his platoon climb out of foxholes they've held for some months and do that terrifying advance across no man's land, the pockmarked no man's land. And you know, they're in the ascendancy, but it's still a pretty hairy business.

[Al Murray]

What's really striking, Jim, when you lay out what diadem is and you lay out the Allied assets are and what their objectives are and what the Germans have got and what they can do and all this is that nevertheless you have that. It's like an inverse pyramid, isn't it? That all that comes all the way down. The guide, who's a company sergeant, who doesn't know necessarily that he has. Who's to his left, Special Service Force on his right, First Armor on his left. He doesn't know any of that, does he? He knows about Tipton's daughter. He knows he's got to put one foot in front of the other. He knows he's just recovered. He's just recovered from a bout of malaria. You know, maybe he's scared for the first time at the start of it, in the anticipation of the moment going forward and that, all of that stuff above him. Yep, it's fine for us looking at the history. But when you come down to the.

[James Holland]

The one BLOKE it's an isolated battlefield when you're on your own, it's an

[Al Murray]

isolated battlefield, and you're an isolated person. On that isolated battlefield, you only know what's directly in front of you. You know, you go back to the stories we told about him hiding in caves and the Germans walking right up to it and not seeing him. That's where we are. Again, that for all that stuff, General Alexander's chaps on maps and arrows and dispositions and resources. And it's really striking when you. When you put it all like that and then you go plunk back. It's back on his shoulders. It's extraordinary.

[James Holland]

And, you know, years later, you know, Audie Murphy reads a book about it and he goes, oh, so that's what was happening at Anzio.

[Al Murray]

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So that's what's going on.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

All right.

[Al Murray]

Okay. So the Germans, of course, respond with intense artillery shells hurtling over their heads. Tanks firing, rounds everywhere. And him and his guys, they come out of the positions, the foxholes they've held for months and advance towards the enemy through no man's land. And they've got to get across a deep cutting. And the platoon have to slide down the one bank, across the cutting bed, scramble up the opposite bank. And this is. Obviously, this is difficult. This is risky. A man's killed. Pausing a fraction too long when clearing the second bank, but the rest get through. Then it's Murphy's turn. He slides down the first slope, but he's in trenching tool, you know, God. Gets caught between two rocks.

[James Holland]

I know. Can you believe this?

[Al Murray]

He stuck. Bullets are whizzing all around him. And he can. He can see the panic in Kelly, his friend's face across the cutting. But with a massive heavy, frees himself and dashes up the opposite bank, joining the rest of them.

[James Holland]

You ignorant bastard. You hurt?

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

No, just a slight heart attack. And a nervous breakdown.

[James Holland]

And a nervous breakdown. But we should say. We should say here that Anzio is flat as a board here. And this is. This is the old Ponti marshes. And this is a fascist kind of reclamation program that's been underway in the 1930s. And so these dikes have been built, these huge earth and banks and then little canals and channels and stuff. And this is what he's climbing over. But the problem is, is. Is you're pretty exposed just going across the flat land. You're very exposed when you're kind of going over the top of these dikes. And to see them today, I mean, it is. It is. Absolutely remarkable. I mean that you, you just wonder how anyone in their right mind could have ever have risked going over the top of them. But. But they do, because they have to, of course. So later that day the platoon watches a sergeant from another platoon charge the first of two machine gun posts which have been holding up the entire attack. And he does this single handedly gets repeatedly hit but he keeps getting back up, continues his charge, knocks out the first machine gun position and captures 10 men. And then they watch him charge the second position but he's cut down just before reaching it. I mean what an amazing thing. I hope he got the medal of Honor. Murphy's platoon just watched this and they find it easy, inspiring and they want to finish this job they've started. And I guess you would be inspired by that, wouldn't you? You'd also think, you know, the crazy man. But they push on and they do help. Finally capturing Cisterna on Thursday 25th May. So two days after. And you remember that Cisterna was where all the rangers were captured and they were ambushed and captured.

[Al Murray]

You know, once they're there they stop to reorganize themselves in a wood. They're exhausted, they're hungry. And particularly as they've outplaced the obviously outpace their supply lines. But there's always more to do. And they're sitting in a foxhole and Abraham Horse Face Johnson looks really, really, there's something up with him. He looks off color. Murphy passes him his canteen and Johnson drops it. Immediately he says what the hell is the matter with you?

[James Holland]

I think I strained my back. And then he stumps forward, doesn't he? Murphy rips off his shirt to find a small ugly wound just under his shoulder blade. And Murphy realizes it's more serious and Johnson has let on so he wants to go and find a medic, but Horse Face is having none of it. And he says no, keep down. You wouldn't get two yards. Shells are thicker than horrors at an elks convention. I'd love to believe he did say that anyway. And then when shells are thicker than whores at an elk's convention, it's quite a thing killing a man. You take away all he's got, all he's ever gonna have. But then when Johnson is speaking, blood starts dribbling out of his mouth and, and Murphy is really shocked to see this. Scrambles out of the foxhole to find a medic. But by the time he returns with one, Johnson is another one who's, who's died. You know that's it. And you know, Murphy's gutted, isn't he?

[Al Murray]

I close my eyes.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

A raw surges through my brain, muffling the scream of the shells.

[James Holland]

Was he a pal?

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

We'd been together since North Africa.

[Al Murray]

So I mean, there's another one.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

I mean it's.

[James Holland]

That's another one that they. It's essentially one by one, isn't it?

[Al Murray]

The delightfully representative squad Hollywood had assembled for him have one by one being whittled away. But on they go, they regroup, they march on towards the flaming town of Cisterna. Job done, but another job to come. As Thompson the. That the deserter has told them will happen. You know, he was absolutely right. But they're approaching Rome. Although it's been difficult to finally break out of the Anzio blister, they're making good. They are making good progress. They've seized a large area ahead of it and troops are closing on Valmontone at 15th Infantry Regiment. They take Artena, which is just south of Valmontone, a couple of days later. And this is absolutely crucial because it means Americans can move their guns up and their guns can now fire directly onto the Via Casalina, which is the road running south from the southeast into Rome. So they really are, they're beginning to tighten the noose.

[James Holland]

Yeah, it's, you know, the Via Casalina is the main road. That's the Naples Rome road. And Artena is on a kind of, you know, it's on, it's on the. It's on the foothills of the Lepini Mountains, which is basically kind of an extension of all the mountains all the way from, from Cassino, basically. Yeah, but on the left hand side, the western side of the Lirie Valley, you know, from there you can absolutely see Valmontoni and see the Via Casalina and everything. So. But anyway, the platoon settles in a cherry orchard and they're tempted to crawl out of their foxholes to pick the fruit. But despite the enemy, the intermittent enemy shellfire, Tipton then has a good idea. He says from his foxhole, he lies on his back and shoots at the tree, clipping off some of the branches. That's just such a lovely idea. And they basically just sort of wait for the cherries to drop down.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

They fall in our hole and we eat.

[Al Murray]

Though you gotta. You do have to wonder whether they all get the shits again because last time he helped himself to the local fruit, went big on fruit, caused himself quite a problem. But the Germans had. The Germans are now beginning to fall apart, aren't they. The sheer amount of pressure. Yeah, they are ready, has got to them. So. 3rd infantry take Valmontone on the weekend of the 2nd or 3rd of June. The Germans are basically on the run across the entire front by this point. They've had it. By Sunday, the fourth Allied troops are closing in on Rome and they begin their final drive at 1530 hours on the Sunday. They lose two tanks, they take five German tanks and they capture lots of prisoners. And Murphy and his platoon are hot on the heels of this advance and, and he can see the Germans falling apart and that it's basically becoming a route now that they, they've lost cohesion.

[James Holland]

Yep.

[Al Murray]

Monday the 5th of June 1944, Rome is liberated. It's not something he's particularly excited about though, is it?

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

Rome is but another objective on an endless road called war. During Anzio, we dreamed of a triumphal entry into the great city. There were plans, promises and threats of wholesale drinking and fornication. Now that our dream is an actuality, a vast indifference seizes us. Pitching our tents in a public park, we sleep until our brains go soggy and life oozes back into our spirits.

[James Holland]

Yeah, so that's the greatest benefit of Rome, is just having a bit of time for some kip. And the casualties have been horrendous in that final month of the whole sort of Cassini battles on both sides. So between the 11th of May and the 4th of June, 51,754 Germans dead, wounded and missing, 43,746 Allies dead, wounded and missing. You know, the Allies are better placed to absorb those kind of losses, but, but it's just, just horrendous and, and his, his platoon are patrolling the city. They get into fights in cafes, they drink wine in circles at their camps. But there's a real sense, a profound sense that nothing's changed. They've still got a long way to go. You know, this is yet. But another stepping stone and the road is far off in the distance that they've still got to traverse, basically.

[Al Murray]

Yeah.

[James Holland]

And of course, the liberation Rome is quickly overshadowed. But what happens in Normandy on the

[Al Murray]

6th of June, the following day? Yeah, well, imagine if D Day had gone up on time on 5 June, that Rome would be. Wouldn't even have that. And day before it's overshadowed, it simply would have been forgotten about completely, wouldn't it, had the weather laid Overlord. Yeah, completely, yeah, yeah. At least they get their day.

[James Holland]

But anyway, they have, they're basically. They've been earmarked for something else because there's going to be. There's going to be a change in Italy. And Alexander and his army commanders, Oliver Lees and General Mark Clark of the US fifth Army, they're very keen on pursuing and routing the Germans before they can get settled on the next defensive position, which is known as the Gothic line, the Linea Gotica, which is between sort of Rimini and Pisa. On the other side. It's not to be because those further up the chain have decided that what would be more beneficial is a landing in southern France because the main effort is Normandy. And keeping troops away from the Normandy front would be a good thing because it's the primary front. And so a landing in southern France is preferable to going all out in Italy. It doesn't mean, say, they're not going to still advance up the leg of Italy, but they're going to be shorn of some of their air forces and some of their divisions as well. And the 3rd Infantry Division, to which Audie Murphy's attached. The Rock of Marne, as it's called. They are being earmarked to leave Italy now and be sent to part of Operation Dragoon, as it's going to be called, which is scheduled for the 15th of August. And in between that time, they're just basically sort of kicking their heels and around, around Rome. So they have a. They do have a kind of, you know, five week stretch, basically.

[Al Murray]

So what we'll do is we'll come back after the break for Audie Murphy. He's landed in Sicily, he's landed in Italy twice, and now he's going to land in France for Operation Dragoon. We'll see you in a tick.

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[Al Murray]

Welcome back to Weird ways of making you talk with me, Omari and James Holland. So Audie Murphy having worked his way all the way up Italy from, from Sicily, poor sod now has to invade France. You know, you might almost feel that the world was set against you, mightn't you if you were in fifth in 3rd Infantry Division. But there we are. And they land as part of Dragoon on the 15th of August near the town of Ramatuel, which is south of St. Tropez. By this point the Germans are, you know basically that they're fighting absolutely everywhere that they can be encountered, apart from Norway of course, the Fuhrer's famous zone of destiny. They're being fought literally everywhere. Yes, they possibly can be. The Allies are slashing their way through northern France after d day. By the 15th of August, by the time Dragoon gets underway, things are completely gone wrong for the Germans in Normandy. Wheels have totally come off and the Germans are being smashed to pieces by the Soviet offenses offensive on the Eastern front. And of course the strategic bombing offensive is, is in full horrible flow. Audie Murphy sees it's justice was hammering

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

on both Germany's front and back doors.

[Al Murray]

I mean that's certainly one way of putting it. Here they go knocking on another door. This is, this is, is this Germany's side door, the south of France, you know, because if, if northwest Europe is the obvious way in, then southern France is, you know, which after all the idea is that will then meet up with what with the breakout in, in northern France. This is quite, quite yet another massive crisis for the Germans. So they cross the beach, they head inland. Murphy's company are then tasked with neutralizing a German machine gun nest on a hill dubbed Pillbox Hill. Murphy at the rear of his platoon becomes isolated and he needs more firepower to compete with the machine guns. He crawls Back down the hill, finds a light machine gun. Squad takes a gun and carries it back up to his original spot. And then, lying flat on his stomach, shooting uphill, he. He has to. He has the advantage because he's covered well enough, so if the Germans want to shoot at him, they have to expose their head and shoulders above the hill. So every time a German head pops up, he gives them some back. Screams ring out. Then the noise stops and he climbs up, crawls up the hill to investigate. And he finds several dead Germans lying in their foxholes. And there's one young soldier who's not even 20, although let's bear in mind that Murphy himself is 19, sitting on the ground, and he's completely in the grip of terror. And Murphy's thinking of giving him a burst when he sees that the boy's left jaw has been shot off.

[James Holland]

I mean, it's just horrendous, isn't it?

[Al Murray]

It's just awful. As he tries to speak, blood spurts in jets from a severed artery. Murphy thinks about Woody. Murphy thinks about shooting him again to put him out of his misery. But he can't do it.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

And he says his staring eyes, already filled with the shadows of death, still plead for life.

[James Holland]

So he heads back down the hill and there he finds his old friend Tati Lipton. And Lipton's in a good mood, so they then start shooting the Germans together.

[Al Murray]

But.

[James Holland]

But the Germans are fighting back. And a bullet chips Lipton's right ear, but he doesn't flinch and kills the two Germans ahead with two shots of his carbine. And after running out of ammo, Tipton and Murphy lob grenades towards the foxhole. And. And then there's utter silence, followed by a cry of Camelot. And the wave of a white handkerchief. I'll go get him, says Lipton.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

Keep down. You can't trust them.

[Al Murray]

Oh, this is such a terrible story, Murph.

[James Holland]

You're getting to be a plum cynic. They've had enough. And so he rises nonchalantly, but that's all the Germans are waiting for. They shoot at him instantly, and Lipton tumbles to the ground and softly mutters, Murph.

[Al Murray]

I start yelling like an insane man

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

for the medics, but I might as well have been shouting at the moon. I am all alone and the hill is rattling with fire. For the first time in the war, I refuse to accept facts. While he grows cold beneath my hand, I keep telling myself he's not dead. He can't be dead, because if he is dead, the war is all wrong and he has died in vain.

[James Holland]

And, of course, Lipton's one of his great, great pals, isn't he? You know, his favorite pal, one of the last surviving originals. And he lifts Lipton's body out from the ditch, lies it beneath a cork tree, then dashes to find a grenade, which he lobs in the direction of the enemy. And when it explodes, he runs out of his carbine. Run. Dashes towards these two Germans, but both have been killed by the grenade. He takes one of their guns, then runs on up the hill. He's obviously in a bit of a frenzy, isn't he?

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

I remember the experiences. I do. A nightmare. A demon seems to have entered my body. My whole being is concentrated on killing.

[James Holland]

And he. And he finds the Germans who killed Lipton and wildly opens fire at them until they're all dead.

[Al Murray]

He's awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for this basic, this moment where he's descended into a complete frenzy. And by the end of the day, the company has wiped out all resistance on the hill. He goes back to check on Lipton's body, making sure that all his personal stuff is still on him. And he finds a photo of his daughter in his pocket, the one who wrote the letters. And then he says, I sit by his side and bawl like a baby. After a while, I get up, wipe the tears from my eyes, and walk

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

over the hill to rejoin the company.

[James Holland]

Yeah. So that's it. Got to move on. Because he's a soldier, you know, and there's been those moments, haven't there, where he's been tapping his helmet and going, don't think about this.

[Al Murray]

Pull yourself together. Yeah, well. And the deserter's prophecy has come true, isn't it? You keep going, you survive that one, you got to fight again, haven't you?

[James Holland]

Yeah. It's so sad, isn't it? It's awful.

[Al Murray]

Yeah. Yeah. But one of the features of the fighting in France is the Resistance come out of hiding and support US Forces as they advance pretty quickly up into their own valley. Because the Germans. The Germans can't really do anything about Dragoon. There's fighting, but it's pretty weak Squash. They make big progress. And we talked about in a previous episode about what you need if morale is wobbling, is some big victories. And this is a big morale boost for third Division as they sort of zoom forward through France. There's still occasional, occasionally resistance.

[James Holland]

But it's a really interesting episode, and it shows that Murphy is really starting to develop as a. As a combat soldier because he can read the land expertly. Sunlight causes a glint from a hidden Germans, and he knows there's not enough in his platoon to take the hill, not as it stands. So he thinks, okay, what am I going to do? So he decides to deploy his men in such a way as to give the impression of the hill is completely surrounded. The key, he says to all his men, is to fire a lot and make a huge amount of noise. So he sends men round to the left and to the right and then he tells them, when you hear me

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

fire, open up with everything you got and start yelling. If too many swarm out, take off like a bat out of hell. I'll meet you at the farm.

[James Holland]

And the ploy works. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So soon a white flag is waved and a tetchy German officer demands to surrender. Only to an officer. But Murphy's having none of that makes him hand over his Luger, which he pockets. It's a really confusing and difficult time for the Americans because sometimes 20,000 Germans surrender just like that, and you think it's all over.

[Al Murray]

Yeah.

[James Holland]

And other times they encounter handfuls who just sort of fight like wildcats and won't give up at all. And so none of it makes any sense. There's no sort of consistency to it. And one time they come across a house in which a lone German is holed up who refuses to surrender. And he fires a pistol wildly and shouts in English that he's never going to surrender and no one dares get close because you know they're not going to risk their life just for one man kind of holding out in a house. But. But eventually Murphy takes it upon himself to deal with it. So he crawls to the edge of the house and this is. Listen, you can see the movie, right? You can see the TV series of this scene. He crawls towards yet of the house, but he's out of grenades. They all are. They haven't got time to go and get any more ammo, so they've just got to sort this out with what they. What they've got. But he does have a tommy gun. So he gets to the front door, he's standing there beside the side, gently kicks it, sort of winds open.

[Al Murray]

Yeah.

[James Holland]

And then he angles his tommy gun like that, fires in a burst blindly, and he hears a body slump. And then he leaps into the house to find a wounded German colonel lying

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

on the floor, his lips afflict with foam and blood. He slobbers like a mad dog as the medics enter and examine his wounds. He Curses them in English.

[James Holland]

I mean, we've just seen that scene so many times, haven't we?

[Al Murray]

A lot of this, right, is. Is. Audie Murphy is a brilliant writer. And it's all very, very vivid. So we're kind of fortunate in a way that he can sum these scenes up. But as you say, they do. They exist. It's because so many movies have been made since with all these things in it, you know, is he. He's. He's ahead of the cliches. He's setting them. Perhaps he sees a man with a stubble beard get hit in the shoulder, stand up surprised, and then get riddled with bullets. He says he turns slowly, about as if for a last view of the familiar sky and fields. His body flinches as more lead is poured into it. When he hits the ground, he flexes his knees and rests his head in

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

the crook of his arm as if going to sleep.

[James Holland]

I mean, this is the amazing thing about his. His. His book and his memoir is just that it's filled with these very memorable little moments. You know, the. The stroppy German officer with his Luger. The guy with the stubble, you know.

[Al Murray]

Yeah.

[James Holland]

You can just picture him because you've seen this man in so many Hollywood movies, and it's such a sort of vivid image. Anyway, a German has then. Then climbs onto a cannon for greater elevation and fires his rifle at Murphy. And the bullet kicks up dirt right next to him. So, you know, I mean, it could have hit him, couldn't it? But it doesn't. Murphy knows he's got seconds. Only he got seconds to respond to this. But he managed to shoot him before being shot himself. And the cannon is causing problems for them, though, so noting a stack of shells behind it, he snatches a bazooka lying around on a dead man. I don't know, whatever. There's a bazooka and fires three rounds into the ammo stash. It blows up, destroying the gun and the crew as well. You can only do that if you've. You've seen a bucket load of combat.

[Al Murray]

They take the Mont Elmar, and there they find a column that's been caught by Arturian air power and simply smashed. Destroyed. He says the destruction surpasses belief. Hundreds of horses have been killed or maimed. You know, one's walking around them with its entrails dragging behind it. And Marla, who's one of the guys, who's a. One of the crew is a gentle, loving, gentle horse. Loving Texan is horrified and puts the horse out of its misery. Using the Luger that Murphy had taken from the indignant officer a week or so earlier. Hey, the scenes of. Scenes of horror. And they reach. In the beginning of September, they get. They're approaching the French city of Bezenson, which is between Dijon and Basel, which is some mark of the progress they've made.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

Right.

[Al Murray]

And this is another one of those battles that's basically. It's a tough fight, basically. You know, if you were to read a roundup of the last year of the war, this wouldn't be in it.

[James Holland]

Yeah. So do you remember that Paul Fossil essay that he wrote in the New Yorker? It's not that the action isn't mentioned, the division isn't even mentioned, not once.

[Al Murray]

And Murphy and his old pal Kelly realize that of the original platoon that landed in Sicily, they're the only two left.

[James Holland]

Murphy is then sent to hospital twice in the space of a month. First because a shell nicks his heel, and then because a mortar round explodes close to him, injuring his foot again. And two officers near him are dead from the blast and a further three wounded. Someone's looking out for him, aren't they? It's late September by the time he's discharged, and when he comes back and rejoins the unit, Kelly is still there. They're in the Vosges mountain area and the leaves are starting to turn because it's the autumn of 1944.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

We plot up the wet roads, doggedly, wondering vaguely which of us will still be alive when the new leaves return to the ship. Trees. The Germans fall back stubbornly, but steadily.

[Al Murray]

Each day.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

However, their resistance grows stronger, their retreats shorter.

[Al Murray]

He reckons that what's coming now is some of the toughest fighting of the war. This feeling that the Germans are falling back even more stubbornly, that they're resisting harder. And this, after all, is the phase of the war where the Allies become pretty disillusioned about, you know, after the great gains of the summer and the heady advances post Overlord and Dragoon and that, you know, taking Rome, that the Germans are digging their heels in.

[James Holland]

Well, it's winter again out, you know, and. And it's another bad one again. Yeah, you know, it's raining a lot, there's loads and loads of mud, and. And basically the pattern is this, that. That from October to December, it rains all the time and it's incredibly muddy. And then from January to. To. To March, it snows and it freezes. And, you know, this happens literally every winter of the war.

[Al Murray]

Not long after this, Martin Kelly, one of the only two remaining is hit by a mortar shell fragment. I mean he isn't killed, but it takes off half of his right hand. So he's, he's order combat now. He's, he's, he's out the line.

[James Holland]

He's out of it.

[Al Murray]

Murphy, Murphy doesn't get to see him. Doesn't get to see him. And before he's taken away to hospital, fighting's too intense. He's got no time to, to say goodbye. So he's on his own now. And he says of the fighting, the terrain is perfect for defense.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

The thick forests hiding innumerable snipers and machine gun emplacements mustafter be cleared by tree to tree fighting. The enemy is dug in high upon the steep craggy slopes from which they pour artillery and modifier into our ranks. At night the fog closes in. Under its cover, Germans infiltrate our lines and hand to hand fighting becomes commonplace. I wet my bayonet until it's razor sharp and keep it always handy.

[James Holland]

So there's an intense sense of isolation for Murphy now. You know, all of his mates have gone. He feels completely burned out and why wouldn't you, emotionally and physically. But he also knows he's got to keep going, you know, in the mud and the cold and the wet and the slaughter. And by early October, Murphy and his company are fighting near Khoury, which is in northeastern France. And on the 2nd of October, Murphy and a few other men are chosen by Battalion Tallinn's commander and executive officer to show them the front lines. But instead it all goes horribly wrong and the men quickly find themselves in a German ambush and two grenades explode and intense machine gun fire rings through the air. Murphy hides behind a rock, then emerges with a grenade in one hand, carbine in the other, and takes him on completely by himself. He lobster grenade fast before the Germans get a chance to machine gun him. Two crumpled down from the bullets. Then Murphy throws another two grenades. Four of the eight Germans are killed and three wounded. And the eighth German runs to escape. But Murphy gets in with a single shot.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

We pick up our wounded and start down the hill. A single feeling possesses me. It is one of complete and utter weariness.

[Al Murray]

You consider, you know, armies rely on their NCOs, don't they? So they're relying on Audie Murphy right now. And a similar thing happens a few days later on the 5th. Several of Murphy's men are shot, but he again takes on the enemy almost single handedly, forcing them to retreat. And incredibly, he's awarded for his actions in both of these encounters. And. And I said, you know, they're relying on their NCOs. Well, they're relying on their NCOs to the point where they're promoting them to being officers. And he's promoted to second lieutenant on 14 October, commissioned in the field. Put on. They go. I mean, that. This doesn't. This doesn't mean he. He sent away to be trained as an officer, does it? I mean, this. The thing, it just rolls on relentlessly. In late October, the 3rd Division is supporting 6th Corps. They're trying to secure Brier and Bruvillier, two small towns, which is southwest of Strasbourg. And the company starts attacking on the 26th, advancing towards Bruvier. And they're coming under intense artillery fire. And then they. They then dip into a nearby wood where everything's quiet, though. But it's a classic. It's quiet, Jim, but it's too quiet.

[James Holland]

There's no birdsong.

[Al Murray]

There's a. A shot rings out, and one of Murphy's men is shot and killed by single sniper bullet to the head. He leaps behind a tree for cover, but then, bang. Another's. Another crack of a round.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

A ricocheting bullet digs a channel through my hip and knocks me flat. The sniper throws his camouflage cape back to get a better view and drills my helmet. That is the last mistake he ever makes. My head is not in my helmet.

[Al Murray]

And he shoots the German between the eyes, killing him. But he can't get up. They finally got him, Jim.

[James Holland]

No, they haven't. Not really.

[Al Murray]

No. But I know he said. I know he's had nicks and cuts and grazes and scrapes, but they finally. Jim, they finally got Audie Murphy. They can go home now, Jim. He can't get up. His right leg's paralyzed. And. And one of his. They. One of his men waits with him until they can get him to a medic to get him to a hospital.

[James Holland]

So he gets Kazavax out in modern parlance. And so he misses the fighting that night. And that night, almost his entire platoon is wiped out.

[Al Murray]

Yeah.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

And he says, I feel sick in mind and body.

[Al Murray]

It's interesting because his wound turns gangrenous, and I think that's a mark of basically how exhausted he is as much

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

as anything else, doesn't it.

[Al Murray]

He can't. It can't fight this. He's saved by antibiotics, by penicillin. Incredibly, you know, that's now completely online if you're an American soldier. He's transferred to another hospital. Once he could walk again and lo and behold who's in the hospital but

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

his old pal Kelly.

[James Holland]

It's brilliant because Kelly's back is back is to Murphy when he, when he walks to the ward. So Murphy just calls out in a

[Al Murray]

loud voice, is this the venereal ward?

[James Holland]

No sir. A patient responds to him, this is casualty.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

Then what's this syphilitic sergeant doing here?

[James Holland]

And the ward goes completely silent And Kelly turns around slowly and says, why you mool headed rattle brain, scramble eyed whore of a lieutenant. And all the patients are going, what you crawling creeping crap from Texas, you battle happy son of a bitch.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

He never did show the proper respect for officers.

[Al Murray]

Murphy says to the other patients.

[James Holland]

To which Kelly says, respect, you beagle eared bastard. What are you doing in the rear area?

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

You'll be tickled to know that I got shot. Lost a hunk of my hip.

[James Holland]

Oh Lord, I think I missed that. Brother, am I glad to see you. You haven't changed a bit.

[Audie Murphy (Narration/Quotes)]

And you're uglier than ever.

[Al Murray]

Ah, friends reunite.

[James Holland]

Phew. They're just old mates who've just taken the piss out of each other. It's all fine. That's not the end of Murphy's war. He still got a hell of a way to go. And he's also got one of his most astonishing single actions to come as well.

[Al Murray]

So yeah, I mean, I think we can all agree though that it was nice to have some humor there at the end of that episode after the relentless sort of awfulness of the business of being an infantryman in the American army in the Second World War. You know, had he been wounded earlier, this story might be very different, right? But that he's made all that progress and got this far before the Germans have finally landed a blow on him. He's truly incredible. He's been incredibly fortunate to have to have got this far. But, but the, one of the things that we, that we've, that we know about the American army at this stage of the war is they're, they're not, you're not going to get sent home with a purple Heart now. They need the people and they need experience to good people. And a recently, a recently commissioned in the field lieutenant is going straight back to that front line as soon as he possibly can. In our next episode and final episode in this story of Audie Murphy, we will see what happens to him and as the war reaches its climax and its end.

[James Holland]

By the way, why hasn't anyone ever made a series on this?

[Al Murray]

We're three quarters of the way through it. We're doing exactly that. We will see you very soon for the last part of the Audie Murphy series. Cheerio. It.